Stamp-canceling machine



(No Model.)

H. J. LATSHAW, Jr. STAMP GANGELING MAGHINE.

No. 434,935. Patented Aug. 26, 1890.

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UNITED STATES A PATENT OEEICE.

HENRY I. LA'rsHAw, JR., oE KANSAS CITY, IIIssoURI.

STAMP-CANCELING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 434,935, dated August 26, 1890..

Application tiled January 9, 1889. Serial No. 295,895. (No modelf) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. LATsIIAw, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stamp-Canceling Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in stamp-canceling machines.

The object is to provide a simple and effective device by which letters as they are collected from the several depositories throughout acity or town maybe arranged and automatically separated and stamped without the necessity of handling by the operator.

With these ends in View myinvention consists in certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents the stamp-canceling device in side elevation, and Fig. 2 represents a transverse vertical section of the same through line sc r of Fig. l.

A and A represent the two sides of a bin in which the letters are to be automatically arranged. The two sides of the bin meet at right angles, forming a corner in which the letters are gathered, and the side A slants upwardly from the bottom of the bin toward the direction in which the letters are to be carried out of the bin. Beneath the said bin an endless belt B is Inounted, the face of the belt forming the bottom of the bin. The drums on which the belt B is mounted are represented by C C', and one ot' them-C, for example-is provided with a crank D, attached to the axle for operating the drum, and hence the belt B thereon. The belt B is provided at suitable intervals along its face with patches ol` adhesive material E, which adhere to the under side of the bottom letter F in the bin with sufficient strength to force it out from the pile of letters within the bin against the resistance of a spring or gravity actuated flap a, which closes a narrow opening h at the bottom of the bin. The opening h is intended 'to'be wide and long enough to allow the free escape of any ordinary-sized letter, and the Hap d is so weighted or held undervspringtension as to prevent a letter from being displaced through it unless intentionally carried through by one of the said adhesive patches E. As the letters are carried through and along on the belt, they are stamped by a stamping-wheel or other suitable device G, so timed as to bring a stamp ginto contact with the letter carried forward by each successive adhesive patch E. The faces of the adhesive patches E may be formed of a sticky substance (gum-arabic, for example) which will not adhere to the letter sufiiciently to pass ed from the patch, or soft rubber may be employed as the surface of the adhesive patch.

One of the several simple and eifective Ineans for arranging theletters in the corner of the bin is the following: At intervals between the adhesive patches E on the belt B, I provide adhesive spots or bars e of much less adhesive power than that of the patches E, or so much less adhesive power that they will not carry a letter out of the bin against the resistance of the flap a, but will carry the letters from one part of the bin to the side A of the bin.V In conjunction with the adhesive spots or bars e on the belt B an endless belt I-I is provided, mounted on suitable drums I, and so located as to travel transversely to the belt B, the upper part of the belt passing above the belt B through the bottom of the bin and the lower part passing beneath the belt B. The belt II is provided with arms 72, extending at right angles thereto, and which allow the letters te fall between them as they (the arms) pass out, and adapted to traverse the area of the bottom of the bin, which arms h are provided with adhesive material and serve to carry the letters with which they come in contact snugly against the side A of the bin. The effect of the two belts upon the letters is to gather them snugly into apile in the corner of the bin formed by the sides A and A', from which they are transferred, one by one, by means of the adhesive patches E to the stamper, and thence along the belt B toa suitable receptacle.

The belt I-I is operated conveniently by means of a bevel gear-wheel K, secured on the axle of one of the drums, which Ineshes with a bevel gear-wheel L, the latter meshing with a gear-wheel M, secured to one of the drums C, for example. The stamping device may be conveniently operated by asprocketchain leading from a sprocket-wheel secured 011 JEhe axle of the drum C to a sprocket-Wheel secured on the axle of the stamping device, as indicated.

The particular construction of the several parts of the device herein described is only one of several equivalent and effective constructions which might be adopted for carrying out the purposes of my invention; and hence I do not wish to limit myself strictly to the construction herein set forth, but to'include such other constructions as fairly fall Within the spirit and scope of my invention. v Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with an endless belt provided with adhesive surfaces at intervals on its face, and further provided with adhesive surfaces of less-strength between the aforesaid adhesive surfaces, of aletter-receptacle in proximity to the surface of the belt, an exit-opening at the base of said receptacle, and a stamper, substantially as set forth.

2. In combination, a letter-receptacle, a set of moving adhesive parts passing across areceptacle, and a second set of adhesive parts passing across said receptacle at an angle to the first set of adhesive parts, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig- I nature in presence of two Witnesses. Y

HENRY J. LATSHAW, JR.

Witnesses:

BEssIE E. YOUNG, S. K. FARR. 

